Batman: Addiction
by lewiscooper
Summary: Batman hunts serial killer Victor Zsasz, but does The Dark Knight have more in common with his old enemy than he realises?
1. Chapter 1

Batman: Addiction

The night covered Gotham City. The night brought with it not darkness but instead the city was enveloped in blackness. For there was an evil loose in Gotham once again, a foul evil with a soul as black as the night itself. A solitary figure held a lonely vigil over the city, to the people he is known as The Batman. He perched upon a rooftop, as he had done countless times before, and pondered the actions he will take during the night. For tonight Batman knows that the evil that penetrates the city must be stopped without unnecessary hesitation. Though still his head is rife with contemplation.

"Victor Zsasz has escaped from Arkham once again. By some miracle nobody was killed in his escape, but with a sociopath like Victor it's only a matter of time before he claims yet another victim. I must stop him, I have to stop him, I NEED to stop him."

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Deep in the burrows of Gotham City, lies an alleyway like countless others, dark and dank, offering little respite for its countless despondent inhabitants, homeless and mindless alike. For in this particular alleyway you may find a man of questionable psychological integrity, none more so than the slim, almost scrawny figure lying in a foetal position in a desolate corner. His name is Victor Zsasz, at times he can be seen as being a whirling dervish of aggression and pain, a remorseless monster claiming lives wherever he goes. As of now, he is like a wounded animal, though his wounds are mental rather than physical. For Victor is a creature of habit, he feeds off of the death of others, his thirst only being quenched by the savage slaughter of innocents. He is only truly satiated once he has ended a life and marked his own skin with a deep, self inflicted cut, adding to his "tally" of lives he has taken. Now Victor Zsasz is a shadow of his former self, simply another body in a city full to bursting. He lies weakened and malnourished, unable to do anything except remain catatonic and mutter to himself, struggling to make sense of the many conflicting thoughts running through his mind. Although now there is one thought overwhelmingly louder than all the rest, one that screams to Victor, begging him to act upon it.

"I need LIBERATION! Not for myself but for the millions of mindless ZOMBIES that surround me day and night. The fools sought to imprison me and CORRECT my way of thinking, of being. They will never realise that I am TRUTH, I am the only thing in this world that is CORRECT. They never will realise how pointless and meaningless their pitiful existences truly are, until the moment where I END them. The moment they pass from this mortal coil, when they look me in the eye and wordlessly THANK me for freeing them, the only sincere gesture any of them will ever make. I HUNGER for this liberation, for it has been far too long. My body has grown far weaker whilst they held me in captivity, I need something to AWAKEN me, something to peak my THIRST so I can continue on my MISSION. I must kill, I have to kill, I NEED to kill."


	2. Chapter 2

**Jimmy Malroy had never been quite so hideously uncomfortable in his life. He was outside his favourite drinking establishment, a normal visit for a night such as this. Although this time he was round the back of the building, feet off the ground, his back pressed firmly against the wall and having great difficulty in breathing. For a large, powerful hand was wrapped around Jimmy's throat, cutting off all but the smallest amount of oxygen. The hand belonged to The Batman, as terrifying a creature as Jimmy had ever seen. As Jimmy stared into the cold, dark eyes of the monster before him, he heard a voice so deep and commanding it resonated deep within his skull, "Victor Zsasz, NOW!"**

**Jimmy felt the grip loosen ever so slightly as he hurriedly cleared his throat and squeaked out the only words he could muster, "I got no idea who you're talking about!" **

**This response did not please the man responsible for his predicament, he sharply brought Jimmy to the floor, driving the wind out of him as his back hit the concrete. The voice boomed once more, "You're a man that hears everything Jimmy, the only thing larger than your ears is your mouth, now TALK!" **

**Jimmy knew he'd have to force out an answer that would please The Batman, at least, if he wished to escape this encounter with all his bones intact. "Ok, ok man. Look I heard he bust out of Arkham, everyone heard. Just nobody has heard anything about him since, hell, he's probably lying low until the heat dies down, it just makes sense!"**

**The Batman leaned closer towards Jimmy, so he was the only thing Jimmy could see. "Victor Zsasz is not a logical creature, he is a monster, his only thoughts are where to obtain his next victim." **

"**Well, exactly! The guy is a monster! He's got no friends! So where would he go and who would he tell? I swear man, nobody knows a damn thing! We all prefer to pretend he doesn't exist as it is!" **

**Jimmy pleaded and hoped The Batman would see sense. Begrudgingly, Batman eased off of Jimmy, deep down he knew the man was right. "Stay out of trouble or next time I won't be so lenient, Jimmy Malroy." **

**With that the Batman disappeared, leaving Jimmy a crumpled but relieved heap on the ground. **

**Some distance away Batman composed himself upon a familiar rooftop. He was no closer to finding Victor Zsasz than when the night began. Batman considered his options. "Malroy has helped me more than he realised. He and the two punks I interrogated before him didn't know a thing, and they're the kind of scum that knows everything that happens. It's clear now I've been going about this the wrong way, using rational methods to hunt an irrational creature. Victor is not like any other criminal, they are all creatures of habit but he has far different habits to anyone else. I need to speak to someone who truly knows how he functions, there's only one place I can go to."**

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**Victor Zsasz remained in his lifeless slumber in the alleyway, internally begging for something to awaken him from his coma, so he can satiate his hunger. As if in perverse answer to his prayers, the mouth of the alleyway was darkened further by the arrival of five figures, a gang of young men, searching the Gotham night for whatever form of entertainment they could find. In this case they saw the desolate figure in the corner and realised they may have found what they were looking for. They stepped forward into what little light the alleyway offered, alerting Victor to their presence. He gave them a cursory glance, all five were youthful, large and of a rough appearance, no doubt in the mood to cause problems for anyone they should encounter. One of their number stepped forward towards Victor and grinned, "What the hell is this? You picked the wrong place to crash out, junkie!" **

**He gave Victor a swift kick to the ribs. Victor barely flinched and didn't make a sound. The man spoke again, "You dead or something? Don't play with me man!"**

**He grabbed Victor under the arms and hauled him up onto his feet, inspecting his apparent prey. The man was alarmed by Victor's appearance, bare feet, dishevelled, tattered prison trousers and a bare upper body, so emaciated it almost resembled that of a famine victim. Though of course the man was most alarmed by the hideous scars that covered Victor's body. Victor remained limp but lifted his head slightly, a tiny smirk cracked across his face as he saw the horror in the man's eyes, Victor's heart beat just a fraction faster. The gang stepped back in shock at the sight of him, yet the man holding Victor remained in place and met Victor's gaze, "What the hell are you man?"**

**Victor lifted up his head and stared through the now terrified man, the smile dominating Victor's face, his heart beating faster than it had in months, he opened his mouth and uttered two simple words, "Thank you." **

**Victor jutted his head forward and clamped his teeth down powerfully on the man's nose, met with a satisfying crack of bone and burst of blood. Victor kept his jaw locked like a dog, following the man down to the ground as he screamed in terror and pain. The man's companions stood horrified for a matter of seconds before fleeing as fast as they could. Victor was now dominant over his fallen victim, releasing his grip and allowing the blood to flow down from his mouth and over his neck and chest. He looked down at the wounded man and smiled again. "You have no idea what you have done for me, I would thank you by making your liberation as painless as I can, but unfortunately I am without any tools. I shall have to use the sharpest things I have available!" Victor bared his teeth then sank them into the man's jugular, ripping and tearing like an animal until the man ceased his wriggling and spasms. **

**Victor Zsasz rose to his feet, the blood of his victim covering his scarred body. At last he had been satiated. His mind was quiet, for the moment he was satisfied. He knew it would not last, he knew he must find more, he NEEDED to find more.**

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	3. Chapter 3

_**Apologies if it irritated anyone that my last chapter was all in bold, I have no idea why that happened. Here is the third and final chapter, I hope you enjoy it, please feel free to leave any comments. Thanks for reading.**_

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**Doctor Lynn Ferris had been a psychotherapist in Arkham Asylum for several years now, given some of the more colourful residents of the Asylum she had seen a lot of shocking occurrences. However there was nothing that could have prepared her for the night she walked into her office and saw the imposing figure in the corner. Despite the shock she knew instantly that this was The Batman, shrouded in darkness, barely visible even with his enormous physical frame. She knew well enough who he was due to the countless patients she had interviewed who spoke about little else. Batman stepped forward into what shallow light the room offered and spoke, "Doctor, I need your help."**

**Dr Ferris took a second to compose herself and replied, "That makes a change, normally I help those who you send to me, now it's you who needs my help."**

"**It's about Victor Zsasz." Batman replied. **

**Dr Ferris noticeably turned pale. Zsasz had always been the one patient of hers that had unsettled her more than any other. She had seen all manner of depravity and foul human behaviour in her work but nothing like what she had encountered from Victor Zsasz. Now he had escaped she was more disconcerted than ever. **

"**Ok, how can I help?" said Dr Ferris, trying not to show just how anxious she truly was.**

"**You know I need to find him as soon as I can. I've tried all my usual methods of locating someone but Victor is different. He's an animal, I need someone who understands him in order to predict his behaviour." **

"**Ok, I see. To be honest I think you understand Victor a lot better than you may realise, you and he are not so different." Dr Ferris ventured.**

"**I am nothing like that monster." Batman replied in disgust.**

"**You may think so, but as you said Victor is an animal. Animals are driven by their most basic instincts, in Victor's case he is driven by the necessity to kill. He depends on it, he needs it to justify his very existence. He is never truly at peace with himself and the world around him unless he is ending a life. He is addicted to murder. While I have never spoken to you or indeed studied you Batman, I find you incredibly easy to read. You too are driven by your most basic instinct. You too are an addict, just like Victor. Although instead of ending lives, you are addicted to saving them. Ask yourself, do you ever truly feel at peace other than the exact moment when you save someone's life? When you stop a truly horrific crime from occurring? That is why you wear the costume, that is you in your most basic, instinctual form. A hero, someone who saves lives." **

**Dr Ferris stopped, seeing that her words were affecting The Batman before her. She waited for some kind of retort but none came.**

"**That is why in order to find Victor Zsasz, you must think like him. Whenever you feel the need to satiate your innate desire to save lives and stop crime, where do you go?" Dr Ferris questioned.**

"**The most dangerous areas of Gotham." Batman replied, clearly thinking over the Doctor's words.**

"**Exactly! Where criminals are most abundant! So if Zsasz is thinking along the same lines, he will head to the nearest location where he can find the most potential victims, preferably somewhere with easy prey." Dr Ferris stopped again, letting The Batman take in her words, clearly she had caught him off guard.**

**Batman stopped and turned towards the open window where he had entered, then turned back slightly to look at Dr Ferris. **

"**Thank you, Doctor."**

**With that he leapt out of the window and disappeared from Dr Ferris' view. She walked over to the window and pulled it closed, and quietly whispered, "Good luck." **

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**Victor Zsasz could not believe his luck. He had not strayed far from Arkham Asylum, far enough to make good his escape but only the distance his weakened body could carry him. His last victim came to him, a wonderful stroke of luck, for him at least. Now newly invigorated Victor was on the hunt for yet more victims, his thirst had been peaked and briefly satiated but he knew before long he would be craving once again. Victor had carefully moved out of the more questionable areas of Gotham without incident as it was still the dead of night. Victor knew he was weak still, so his next prey had to be easy, something he could pick off at will, a wounded animal separated from the rest of the pack. **

**It was at this point Victor found himself drawn to a large, gothic building. At first he didn't know what it was that called to him about the building, but his predatory senses had served him well. Victor had always had a penchant for choosing young women as his victims, this time his luck was truly in. For he had chanced upon Miss Coote's School For Girls, which had been an established Catholic school in Gotham for many years. Victor salivated at the thought of all the easy prey, all now asleep and ready for the taking. **

**Victor quietly made his way in. Despite being weakened, he was spurred on by his need for fresh victims, bestowing him the strength necessary to force open the building's decrepit doorway. Victor crept through the hallway, as silently as he could, desperate not to disturb his prey before he was ready to attack. He entered the first dormitory room he came across and surveyed the immediate area. The room was sufficiently lit by the moon which shone through the large skylight. There was a small number of beds, each with an easy victim inside, asleep and blissfully unaware of the horror that had entered the room. Victor slowly moved towards the nearest bed, this was it now, he was about to give in to his hunger once again, this was the thrill before the kill, Victor lived and breathed for the very moment that followed. As he reached to pull back the covers of his victim's bed, he began to breathe heavier, his heart beating faster and faster. This was it for Victor Zsasz.**

**What happened next was all so fast, to Victor it was a blur. The first thing was he heard the above skylight smashing as something heavy burst through it, with the glass showering Victor. Then all the air rushed from his body as two large leather boots slammed into his back with tremendous force, almost breaking Victor in half. Every girl in the room awoke startled, they looked across the room and saw The Batman, resplendent in the moonlight as it caught the long ears on top of his head and his majestic cape flowing as he brought himself up to his feet. **

**Victor looked up and saw the same sight, struggling to compose himself as his already weakened body had been made far worse by such a sudden and vicious attack. Batman leaned over him, clearly dominant. He stared a hole through Victor and spoke, "You can never escape me Victor, I know you. You're a pure creature of habit. You follow your addiction blindly and without logic or reason. The nearest school for young girls closest to your last know whereabouts? Not very smart Victor."**

**Victor knew he was defeated, but he had one last psychological weapon to attack Batman with, "I knew you would find me eventually, Batman. It's just like I told Dr Ferris back in Arkham, you and I are creatures of the same habit, victims of the same addiction. We are not so different."**

**Batman was disgusted to hear these very words come from Victor's mouth. With all his might he bought his closed fist straight down into Victor's jaw, shattering it and knocking out teeth in the process. Batman straightened himself up again and glared at the now semi-conscious killer before him, he growled, "No, Victor, you and I are as different as possible. You suffer from an addiction, you NEED to end lives. I perform my duty, I CHOOSE to save lives. That Victor, is what you will never understand."**

**Batman looked around the room at the horrified girls and the mistresses who had hastily entered the room. He took a second to reassure them all, then heaved Victor Zsasz up onto his shoulder and disappeared into the night once more.**

**----END----**


End file.
